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"Celebrating Nashville's Music Legacy : Chris Blair on The Listening Room Cafe and 20 Years of Nashville Music History" · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville. Hi, this is Sarah Harrelson, your
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: host of Taking a Walk Nashville and joining me here
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: today at the Listening Room Cafe is the owner and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: founder Chris Blair. The Listening Room Cafe is one of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Nashville's premiere venues for hit songwriters and up and coming songwriters.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I even have the chance to perform here a couple
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: times myself. It opened in two thousand and six, and
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: this year they are celebrating their twentieth anniversary with the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: show at the Ryman Auditorium on March third. In addition
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to being a venue owner, Saint Louis native, Chris Blair
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  Speaker 1: is also a songwriter and host of the podcast Stories
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Behind the Songs, featuring in depth interviews with Nashville songwriters
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  Speaker 1: and artists. Chris, thank you so much for opening up
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  Speaker 1: your doors and the stage for taking a Walk Nashville today.
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  Speaker 1: So this is the third location of the Listening Room Correct,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: this is.
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  Speaker 2: The fourth location. Yeah, thank you for that intro, by
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the way, Sarah, that was really nice. Yeah. We started
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  Speaker 2: in Franklin in two thousand and six, so that's the
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: little area that most people don't even think about. So
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: there's a there's so many people that think of Coming
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  Speaker 2: Station as our first location, but started in Franklin, moved
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  Speaker 2: it to Coming Station in two thousand and eight, then
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  Speaker 2: to Second Avenue in twenty twelve, and then to this
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  Speaker 2: location in twenty seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's progressively gotten bigger location. So when you
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  Speaker 1: opened the listening room in two thousand and six, were
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  Speaker 1: there any other venues you notice doing the same kind
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  Speaker 1: of right around format besides the Bluebird Cafe?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a little bit. Obviously, the Bluebird was
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  Speaker 2: the one that everybody knows and kind of what you know,
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  Speaker 2: what I had had looked at when we were doing this.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, there's other smaller place. Douglas Corner was
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: on Eighth Avenue at the time, and you know they
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  Speaker 2: would do writers' rounds every now and then. You know
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  Speaker 2: Commodore that's still around. You know, little places like that,
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  Speaker 2: But you know, with the with the great hit songwriters,
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  Speaker 2: the Bluebird was pretty much it.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely And what led you to working in the restaurant
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  Speaker 1: industry in Missouri to wanting to come here to Nashville
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  Speaker 1: to pursue music and open up a music venue.
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  Speaker 2: An alarm clock. My dad saying you got to get
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: up at three thirty in the morning and go to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: work with me. So I grew up around entrepreneurship. My
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: grandpa owned his own business in real estate. My dad
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: owned four restaurants when I was growing up, and I
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: always like to joke, there's no labor laws when when
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: you're the the owner's kid. So I would get up
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: on the weekends and literally at three thirty in the
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  Speaker 2: morning and drive to work with my dad. And as
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  Speaker 2: soon as I was old enough to stand on milk
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  Speaker 2: rates in the kitchen, I was washing dishes, and then
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  Speaker 2: I was slicing bread and slicing deli meat and just
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  Speaker 2: kind of moved my way up. So it all kind
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  Speaker 2: of started with that.
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  Speaker 1: And the restaurant industry, like you said, it's brutal hours.
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  Speaker 1: So you're definitely incorporating both the restaurant and the music
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  Speaker 1: industry together.
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  Speaker 2: Here.
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  Speaker 1: Were you just interested in coming to Nashville to pursue
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  Speaker 1: your own music at the time.
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  Speaker 2: I was, Yeah, I moved here in two thousand and three.
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  Speaker 2: I've been in music my entire life. I started singing.
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  Speaker 2: My mom's got you know, old tapes of me singing
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  Speaker 2: on pitch to songs when I was like three, started
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  Speaker 2: taking piano lessons when I was four, and I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's just a it's a part of my DNA. I
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  Speaker 2: don't remember any memories without music as a part of
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  Speaker 2: my life. Started putting out my own songs. Started writing
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  Speaker 2: a little bit back then, but mostly just getting songs
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  Speaker 2: from other people. I didn't really fully understand what songwriting was.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, I got an offer to move to Nashville
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  Speaker 2: from Doug Howard, who's the DIN of music over at Bellmont.
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  Speaker 2: Now by the time, he was running A and R
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  Speaker 2: for a label here in town and said move to
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: town and we'll work together. So that's what ultimately brought
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  Speaker 2: me here. And then you know, through multiple steps that
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  Speaker 2: just that led to more songwriting and this passion of
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  Speaker 2: just sharing the stories behind the songs, and then the
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  Speaker 2: idea to to do something like the Listening Room.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's expanded so much in the last twenty years,
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  Speaker 1: and so many artists and songwriters have taken the stage
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  Speaker 1: at the Listening Room. And you're celebrating your twentieth anniversary
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  Speaker 1: show this year, as I mentioned, at the Ryman Auditorium
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  Speaker 1: on March third. You have a great lineup It includes Hardy,
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  Speaker 1: Jody Messina, Mitchell Tinpenny, and many more hit songwriters and artists.
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  Speaker 1: Will this concert at the Ryman. Is it going to
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  Speaker 1: be in the round style like the listening room format
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  Speaker 1: or is it more full band with the artists.
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  Speaker 2: No full bands. We may have a little a couple surprises,
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  Speaker 2: but mostly in the round type style. The names that
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned, you know, those are all great friends that
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  Speaker 2: as soon as I reached out, was an immediate yes,
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  Speaker 2: we'd love to be a part of it, along with
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  Speaker 2: several other artists that we haven't even announced yet. We're
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  Speaker 2: going to have some special guests that we won't announce
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: until they walk on stage. Great hit songwriters you're hearing
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: at first. I just got confirmation from Ashley Gorley yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: so absolute monster songwriter that was trying to figure out
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  Speaker 2: his schedule, so he will be there, and Matt Jenkins
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  Speaker 2: and j T. Harding and Phil Barton and it's just
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  Speaker 2: the going to be It's gonna be amazing. So it's
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  Speaker 2: kind of a little bit of mix of some artists
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  Speaker 2: who got their start here on this stage as well
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  Speaker 2: as you know, the best songwriters in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be a great event. People don't
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  Speaker 1: want to miss it. Can people purchase tickets on the
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  Speaker 1: Listening Room Cafe site for this event?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you go to our website, there is a
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  Speaker 2: link that will take you to the Ryman's website, but
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: you can also go directly to the Ryman's website and
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: just go to go to the March shows. We're the
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  Speaker 2: first one on there, I think, and we still have
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  Speaker 2: a few tickets left. It's almost sold out. Wow, that's amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And if it does get sold out, people who
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  Speaker 1: are coming in town can still check out shows right here.
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  Speaker 1: Took the Listening Room Cafe too. So over the course
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  Speaker 1: of twenty years, what has been the change the biggest
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  Speaker 1: change you've seen in Nashville since two thousand and six,
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  Speaker 1: and you know since the original location in Franklin of
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the Listening Room.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wish I would have bought the overpriced real
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  Speaker 2: estate that I didn't buy fifteen years ago. I've heard
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  Speaker 2: both sides of the fence on this. You know that
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  Speaker 2: Nashville has grown so much that we're losing a bit
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  Speaker 2: of history, and I agree with that. You know, I
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  Speaker 2: remember walking down Music Row when I first moved here.
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  Speaker 2: It was just publisher after publisher after you know, Studio
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  Speaker 2: B and like, I mean, just all of these great
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  Speaker 2: things and to watch everything go vertical and that's been
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  Speaker 2: a big change, and it's pushed a lot of small
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  Speaker 2: businesses out because they can't afford it. But at the
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  Speaker 2: same time, you know, Nashville is for several years now
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: been kind of the it city and it's for the
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: economy year and I think what we're able to provide
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: for all of the tourists that are coming in, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's what I've seen change the most. And I think
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  Speaker 2: it's just like I think we have to embrace it
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  Speaker 2: and be proud of a city that's growing. Maybe still
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: work on the parking or the driving situation, but you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think from everything that I see, it's not slowing down.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, we're we're working on some things behind
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  Speaker 2: the scenes of you know, how we can sustain the
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  Speaker 2: growth and be here for another twenty years. Yeah, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think it's good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I think it's all good change too. Do
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  Speaker 1: you have a favorite or most memorable listening room show
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  Speaker 1: we've experienced?
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  Speaker 2: Sarah, I get asked this all the time, and it's
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  Speaker 2: so hard because there. There are a flood of memories
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  Speaker 2: that come up anytime this question is asked. I mean
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  Speaker 2: it is. I can't pick one, there's no way. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, just the moments that stopped me in my
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  Speaker 2: tracks when I hear a song for the first time
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  Speaker 2: that no one's ever heard, and I kind of get
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  Speaker 2: numb to songs. I hear so many of them that
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  Speaker 2: it really takes a great lyric to stop me. So
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  Speaker 2: those are those are amazing moments when I hear something
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  Speaker 2: that is like, man, that is that is so good,
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  Speaker 2: and then you know months later it's a number one
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: hit it's been released. Full circle moments from back when
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  Speaker 2: I still was an artist and I was touring doing
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  Speaker 2: a lot of cover songs even back in the day,
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  Speaker 2: and looking at songs that I used to sing with
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  Speaker 2: my band, like I don't know, amazed by lone Star,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and and then becoming very good friends with
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  Speaker 2: guys like Richard McDonald and Dean Sam's and getting to
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  Speaker 2: know those guys I used to tour on the road
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  Speaker 2: with Andy Griggs, he and I had music out at
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  Speaker 2: the same time, and really getting to know those guys
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  Speaker 2: like as friends. Those are those are amazing moments and
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: then you know, like the people that are playing the rhyman,
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  Speaker 2: you know, just watching Michael you know, like before he
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  Speaker 2: was known just as hearty, you know, like watching him
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  Speaker 2: and Morgan Wallen play songs here, you know, when they
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: were just trying to pay rent tenpenny. You know, there's
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: just Garth Brooks is the reason that I got into
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  Speaker 2: music in the first place, as far as country music goes.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, those those moments where having Garth on
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  Speaker 2: this stage that we're sitting on right now and watching
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  Speaker 2: him play for I don't know, an hour and a
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  Speaker 2: half and I don't think he finished one song because
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: it was just like this melodic mash of all of
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  Speaker 2: his hits and going into other songs that he loves
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  Speaker 2: and all. I mean, there's just literally so many moments
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  Speaker 2: I have to pinch myself, even when you were doing
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: that intro, you know, it just it's hard to believe
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  Speaker 2: that we've been doing this for twenty years. And it's awesome.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing to see where songwriters have gone with
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  Speaker 1: their journey with the listening room too, like you said,
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  Speaker 1: especially you know, even just coming for shows of the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: listening room at ten Pan's house sing a songwriter who
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: maybe just got signed, play a song that's never been
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: released before, and you know, two months later you heard
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: on Cody Johnson's album or someone's album. I think that's
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  Speaker 1: what's so special about this format and hearing songwriters share
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  Speaker 1: their stories behind the songs. You're also involved in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of philanthropic causes, such as the Listening Room Sound
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Good Do Good program, and it gives back to the
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: community by donating a portion of ticket sales to locally
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: based charities. So when people buy a ticket to the
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Listening Room, who are they supporting.
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  Speaker 2: We work with a lot of nonprofits. So we are
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: actually booked up for the entire year of twenty twenty six,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: and we have a waiting list and then starting to
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: look at twenty seven already. This started back in the
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: year of the flood. You know, this is early days
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: where I was bartending, running sound booking, the talent, you know, everything,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: and we were struggling pretty bad, and a couple songwriting
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  Speaker 2: friends put together a show that later I found out
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  Speaker 2: was a benefit for us, and it just happened to
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: be right after the Nashville flood. So we're doing all
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: this hype, trying to talk up the show, and then
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: it happened. In the aftermath of that, decided that we
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: should give a small portion of the proceeds back to
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: a nonprofit. So I teamed up with Hands on Nashville,
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  Speaker 2: and something hit me during that show where it's just like,
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  Speaker 2: you know what, like this is this isn't right. It
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: just didn't feel right. I looked at us as like
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: we are we're we're a venue or a bar, we're
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: a restaurant, entertainment, and people have lost their homes, they're clothes,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: some of them have lost family members. You know, the
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Nashville flood was terrible. So we gave it all back
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: and that was kind of the birth of like, you know,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: if we're able to keep going. I'm big in my
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: faith and you know, just kind of vowed at that point,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: like Lord, if this is what we're meant to do,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: help us get through it, and this is what we'll
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: do forever. And that's what we've done once a month
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: ever since then. And it's not portion of the tickets,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: it's one hundred percent of them. So we we will
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: team up with anywhere from you know, we we've found
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: local families that may have a child and you know,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: going through cancer treatments at Vanderbilt and they can't afford it.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Most often it's more local charities that are all across
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  Speaker 2: the board from we've worked with, you know, people who
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: support hearing aids and animal shelters and homeless and education
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: and you know, just all of these things. And then
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  Speaker 2: you know larger things like Unit Away, Red Cross, Tug
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  Speaker 2: McGraw Foundation, stuff like that. So it's just a big
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  Speaker 2: part of my heart and and it's part of our
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  Speaker 2: core values. And you know, as long as as long
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: as we're allowed to keep these doors open, that'll be
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: a part of it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's amazing. I love to hear how the listening
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: room is giving back to the Nashville community. I also
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: saw something very interesting reading about you, Chris. I saw
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: that in your free time you enjoy flying planes. So
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: what peaqued this interest for you?
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Uh? Kennett, Missouri. The Kennett Country Club. My grandparents were
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: not members of the country club. They couldn't afford that,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: but we would get passes to be able to go
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: in there. And I had a great uncle who was
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: an incredible golfer. He took me golfing when I think
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I was like maybe nine ten years old something like that,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: and it was right beside this small airfield that was
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: full of just crop dusters. Kennett, Misouri is a big
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: cotton town, and I was not into golf whatsoever. I
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: hated being out there. And I think about a whole
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: three or four he realized I was watching these guys
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: take off in their planes. And of course this was
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: years ago before any kind of security, and he also
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: was one that just wasn't afraid to ask anything. And
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: we left the golf course. My uncle drove right past
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the restricted area sign and drove right into the airport
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: up to a hangar, found a guy outside working on
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: a plane and said, you know, hey, is this your plane?
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Can you take him up? I would not have wanted
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: to be in the room when my mom found out
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: this happened after the fact, but yeah, that's where you know,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: like nine ish years old, I was in one of
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: those planes and got to the take the yolk and
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: feel what that was like. And it was just a
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: burning love inside of me for a long time. So
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: finally in two thousand and nine I started taking pilot
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: lessons and been doing ever since.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's very cool. So Chris my last question for
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: you is something I always as my guest. Since we
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: are on taking a Walk Nashville, do you have a
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: favorite place you like to take a walk in Nashville.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Uh. Yeah, We live out in Mount Juliet and there
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: is a there's a park out in that area that
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: it goes around a really large lake and it's just
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: quiet and I spend time out there alone just walking
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and thinking and being a visionary. And then I also
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: just love taking my family and doing that. So you know,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: there's there's several places in Nashville. I think that's That's
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: another great thing that the city has done a pretty
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: decent job of is throughout this growth, they've you know,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: they've kept this certain areas like Percy Warner Park or
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: whatever where they have you know, really not let those
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: areas get developed. So Nashville is good for that. Yeah.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And the listening room is right near downtown Nashville,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: so people can get a show here and walk downtown
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: askraards too. Yeah. Well, Chris, thank you so much for
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: being on taking a Walk Nashville Today. Everyone can find
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: tickets to upcoming shows and your twentieth anniversary event at
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the Ryeman on March.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Third at your website. Thank you again, Thank you, thanks
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: for having.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Me, Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson, and check out our other podcasts, Music,
• 18:29
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